another quick question from a prospective student

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Ross434

Ross434

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Hey, just wondering you guys' and gals' opinions on a pair of courses i'm deciding between. I'm a college junior and i've recently decided on med school, my goal being pathology (i totally fell in love with looking at tissues and cells, and with understanding the processes of disease at the micro level). Next semester i have to choose between 2 bio classes, before i spend the rest of my time on ochem, physics and liberal arts.

My two main considerations are going to be: how much they relate to medical lab science, and difficulty (prefer more difficult)

The choice is down to medical microbiology "immunological principles of host parasite relationships and pathogenic bacteria, viruses, etc", including lab. Versus pathology "study of macroscopic and microscopic features, clinical signs and symptoms, and theraputic considerations of human disease". No lab for this one.

I dont really intend on using whichever course i take as a prep for med school (im assuming neither would be very in-depth, compared to med-level courses), it's more of a case of I have to take one more bio elective.

I'm thinking med micro would be more challenging, and scientifically informative, but possibly a little less interesting than the path course (but how hardcore could an undergrad path course intended for pre-health professions be?)

One other question, - did anyone here go into med school specifically intending on path? the reason i ask is because, after some recent experiences in a hospital, i really decided i dont like clinical care much (i was planning on nursing) and was hoping to do something more lab or science oriented (my academic roots), but still within the framework of medicine.

If anyone has any relevant opinions or recommendations, i'd be glad to hear them. Thanks in advance!
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Neither. Taking anything related medicine other than the most basic premed requirements is one of the greatest mistakes of my adult life. (well Ive never been divorced/married so Im better off than some I imagine)

I would advise:
1.) Introduction to microeconomics
2.) Macroeconomics
3.) Introduction to finance
4.) Basics of accounting
5.) Bioinformatics and medical informatics
6.) Construction and maintenance of web-based systems
7.) Introduction to computer science
8.) any class related to entrepreneurialism
9.) Course dealing with government regulatory law in medicine
10.) Survey course related to medicolegal issues
11.) Introduction to marketing
12.) Software accounting tools
13.) Survey of tax law
14.) Personal finance
15.) Survey of hospital adminstration


DO NOT take dumb crap like
Immunology
Basic Pathology
Basic Histology
Intro to Anatomy
Pharmacology
or any endless series of courses for crap you will have to relearn again in medical school and/or residency.

Do not major in bioscience or anything related. Do not spend excess time other than to pad your CV in a basic science lab unless you absolutely certain you are considering a research-based career. Do not volunteer in hospitals EVER.

Essentially dont make the same mistakes I did.
 
LADoc00 said:
Neither. Taking anything related medicine other than the most basic premed requirements is one of the greatest mistakes of my adult life. (well Ive never been divorced/married so Im better off than some I imagine)

I would advise:
1.) Introduction to microeconomics
2.) Macroeconomics
3.) Introduction to finance
4.) Basics of accounting
5.) Bioinformatics and medical informatics
6.) Construction and maintenance of web-based systems
7.) Introduction to computer science
8.) any class related to entrepreneurialism
9.) Course dealing with government regulatory law in medicine
10.) Survey course related to medicolegal issues
11.) Introduction to marketing
12.) Software accounting tools


DO NOT take dumb crap like
Immunology
Basic Pathology
Basic Histology
Intro to Anatomy
Pharmacology
or any endless series of courses for crap you will have to relearn again in medical school and/or residency.

Do not major in bioscience or anything related. Do not spend excess time other than to pad your CV in a basic science lab unless you absolutely certain you are considering a research-based career. Do not volunteer in hospitals EVER.

Essentially dont make the same mistakes I did.
Click to expand...

I definitely agree with this vein of advice. However, i've already taken micro, macro, and finance, and computer science, and at this point, my time (ie: my parents money) is running out, and it's necessary to get a bio degree (given how many credits i have and how many of my nursing prereqs were bio classes). I totally agree with you, and yes i fully expect that whatever i end up taking will be repeated in med school and really wont have prepared me. I'd take something related to medical/legal issues if it were available, but i'm at a small private college. I have to fulfill 3 more bio credits regardless. I suppose i could do something like dendrology, but it's probably less interesting.

Great advice though. I really think more doctors should have business degrees and know more about business and legal issues.
 
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LADoc00 said:
Neither. Taking anything related medicine other than the most basic premed requirements is one of the greatest mistakes of my adult life. (well Ive never been divorced/married so Im better off than some I imagine)

I would advise:
1.) Introduction to microeconomics
2.) Macroeconomics
3.) Introduction to finance
4.) Basics of accounting
5.) Bioinformatics and medical informatics
6.) Construction and maintenance of web-based systems
7.) Introduction to computer science
8.) any class related to entrepreneurialism
9.) Course dealing with government regulatory law in medicine
10.) Survey course related to medicolegal issues
11.) Introduction to marketing
12.) Software accounting tools
13.) Survey of tax law
14.) Personal finance
15.) Survey of hospital adminstration


DO NOT take dumb crap like
Immunology
Basic Pathology
Basic Histology
Intro to Anatomy
Pharmacology
or any endless series of courses for crap you will have to relearn again in medical school and/or residency.

Do not major in bioscience or anything related. Do not spend excess time other than to pad your CV in a basic science lab unless you absolutely certain you are considering a research-based career. Do not volunteer in hospitals EVER.

Essentially dont make the same mistakes I did.
Click to expand...


Fantastic advice....
 
I agree with LADoc's advice (sucks that hindsight is 20/20), but since this is a moot point given your situation, I say to choose the one you think you will enjoy the most. I'm a lowly MS3 and both classes sound glorious to me.

I did go to medical school with intentions of doing path. Right about now I am asking myself, "why, dear god, why?". Don't get me wrong, I understand that it is important for pathologists to understand the foundations of clinical medicine, but I still think that we get screwed over with the traditional curriculum... ANYWAY, I decided that it was worth it to get the MD, debt and all, and I loved the preclinical years. I introduced myself to many of my school's pathologists and met most of the residents early on and spent the summer between MS1 and 2 in the path lab. I knew that the clinical years would be a challenge so I psyched myself up for it as much as possible and I try to maintain an open mind.

You mentioned that you recently decided on medical school... My advice is to investigate lots of options. Is an MD by your name important to you? Consider the debt associated with medical school and what type of lifestyle you ultimately desire. There are many other roads that will allow you to work in a lab environment (possibly less grueling, but less lucrative).

There is a lot of useful information in the stickies section on this board. Check it out if you haven't already. Look into your options.

-P.
 
Although I can see what the previous posters are saying, I felt that i was at a significant disadvantage during my first 2 years of medical school in comparison to my classmates who had had the classes before and were having an easier time with it. So i would say take one of them. It would put you at an advantage in med school. just my 2 cents.
 
I did have a fairly solid advantage in pre-clinical years due to loading up on absolutely worthless redundant medical school type classes in undergrad, helped alot especially considering my school as well as most are PASS/FAIL grading. note sarcasm.

Listen to me now and believe me later.
 
LADoc00 said:
Neither. Taking anything related medicine other than the most basic premed requirements is one of the greatest mistakes of my adult life. (well Ive never been divorced/married so Im better off than some I imagine)

I would advise:
1.) Introduction to microeconomics
2.) Macroeconomics
3.) Introduction to finance
4.) Basics of accounting
5.) Bioinformatics and medical informatics
6.) Construction and maintenance of web-based systems
7.) Introduction to computer science
8.) any class related to entrepreneurialism
9.) Course dealing with government regulatory law in medicine
10.) Survey course related to medicolegal issues
11.) Introduction to marketing
12.) Software accounting tools
13.) Survey of tax law
14.) Personal finance
15.) Survey of hospital adminstration


DO NOT take dumb crap like
Immunology
Basic Pathology
Basic Histology
Intro to Anatomy
Pharmacology
or any endless series of courses for crap you will have to relearn again in medical school and/or residency.

Do not major in bioscience or anything related. Do not spend excess time other than to pad your CV in a basic science lab unless you absolutely certain you are considering a research-based career. Do not volunteer in hospitals EVER.

Essentially dont make the same mistakes I did.
Click to expand...

I pretty much agree with everything except for the part about volunteering in hospitals. While it may not be an official prerequisite for med school admissions, it's an unofficial one. Of course, I'd recommend finding something that is entertaining and not time consuming. For my volunteer work, I was a Tuesday evening activities assistant at the children's rehab center. Basically, every Tuesday night for 3 hours I would go and play games and sports with the patients.
 
I was a finance major in undergrad and it was the best experience I could have done-I cant imagine spending my 4 years with the same crappy pre-med types doing a bio degree studying plants and other crap that will never matter-finance/econ however is how the world works, the driving force to most of the world-and very practical-I enjoyed it. I say if you can learn and understand Religion and Finance/econ-you understand 90 percent of what motivates the world to work on a day to day basis-so good advice
 
I have to add Public Speaking to the list of useful courses for pre-meds. Some of my colleagues give awful presentations.
 
LADoc00 said:
I did have a fairly solid advantage in pre-clinical years due to loading up on absolutely worthless redundant medical school type classes in undergrad, helped alot especially considering my school as well as most are PASS/FAIL grading. note sarcasm.

Listen to me now and believe me later.
Click to expand...


see the courses at my school are honors, high pass, pass, marginal pass and fail. the curve was always being blown out mostly by the people who had these classes before. and then if you think more of a background might lead to better step 1 scores which might lead to and easier time matching to the residency program of your choice.
Note this method of medical school evaluation isn't my preference but unfortunately sees to be the way of the world. i am on the admisssions committee at my school and liek to see well rounded students and i'm sure residency programs do. however at the end of the day when you are tallying up the score on a person, mcat, gpa, grades are heavily weighted. I would wager that it is the same for residency programs as far as i can tell from people getting early interview invites. grades, step 1 scores seems to trump all. not sure about grades.
 
sapience8x said:
see the courses at my school are honors, high pass, pass, marginal pass and fail. the curve was always being blown out mostly by the people who had these classes before. and then if you think more of a background might lead to better step 1 scores which might lead to and easier time matching to the residency program of your choice.
Note this method of medical school evaluation isn't my preference but unfortunately sees to be the way of the world. i am on the admisssions committee at my school and liek to see well rounded students and i'm sure residency programs do. however at the end of the day when you are tallying up the score on a person, mcat, gpa, grades are heavily weighted. I would wager that it is the same for residency programs as far as i can tell from people getting early interview invites. grades, step 1 scores seems to trump all. not sure about grades.
Click to expand...

In my own experience, the people who had A&P, histology, etc. in college didn't score any better than the people who didn't.

As for what's important to programs, at my small program the main questions are AMG or FMG and Step scores. Nobody here cares how well-rounded you are if you have good board scores, decent grades, and interact well with others during your interview. I was involved in lots of extra-curricular stuff in medical school and almost nobody asked me about it during interviews.
 
Take what you want to take and what you are interested in. It is your last chance to really do this. If you really love immunology, knock yourself out. But it isn't going to help you much in med school. Sure, it might give you the answers to a couple of questions here and there on tests, but not very many. The information you need to know for med school is pretty different in terms of emphasis.
 
LADoc00 said:
Neither. Taking anything related medicine other than the most basic premed requirements is one of the greatest mistakes of my adult life. (well Ive never been divorced/married so Im better off than some I imagine)

I would advise:
1.) Introduction to microeconomics
2.) Macroeconomics
3.) Introduction to finance
4.) Basics of accounting
5.) Bioinformatics and medical informatics
6.) Construction and maintenance of web-based systems
7.) Introduction to computer science
8.) any class related to entrepreneurialism
9.) Course dealing with government regulatory law in medicine
10.) Survey course related to medicolegal issues
11.) Introduction to marketing
12.) Software accounting tools
13.) Survey of tax law
14.) Personal finance
15.) Survey of hospital adminstration


DO NOT take dumb crap like
Immunology
Basic Pathology
Basic Histology
Intro to Anatomy
Pharmacology
or any endless series of courses for crap you will have to relearn again in medical school and/or residency.

Do not major in bioscience or anything related. Do not spend excess time other than to pad your CV in a basic science lab unless you absolutely certain you are considering a research-based career. Do not volunteer in hospitals EVER.

Essentially dont make the same mistakes I did.
Click to expand...
Young though I am, this is one of the best posts I've seen on SDN. keep it coming La
 
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